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This is the 7th edition with a publication date of 2/20/2012.

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Summary

Surveying a wide variety of disciplines, this fully-revised 7th edition offers a sophisticated and engaging treatment of the rapidly expanding field of organizational communication Places organizations and organizational communication within a broader social, economic, and cultural context Applies a global perspective throughout, including thoughtful consideration of non-Western forms of leadership, as well as global economic contexts Offers a level of sophistication and integration of ideas from a variety of disciplines that makes this treatment definitive Updated seventh edition: Updated to include recent events and their ethical dimensions, including the bank crisis and bailouts in the US and UK Offers a nuanced, in-depth discussion of technology, and a new chapter on organizational change Includes new and revised case studies for a fresh view on perennial topics, incorporating a global focus throughout

Author Biography

Charles Conrad is Professor of Organizational Communication at Texas AM University. He has received more than a dozen college- and university-level teaching awards, including the National Communication Association's Donald Ecroyd Award. He is the author or editor of nine books, the most recent of which are Organizational Rhetoric (2011) and Global Engineering (2010). Marshall Scott Poole is Professor of Communication and Director of the Institute for Computing in the Humanities, Arts, and Social Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He has received several teaching awards and multiple research awards, including the Steven Chaffee Lifetime Productivity Award from the International Communication Association. He is the author or editor of eleven books, including Working Through Conflict (2008) and Handbook of Organizational Change and Innovation (2004).

Table of Contents

Preface

p. xi

Underlying Concepts

p. 1

Strategic Organizational Communication

p. 3

Organizational Communication as Strategic Discourse

p. 5

How to Handle the Scarlet Email

p. 7

The Fundamental Paradox

p. 10

Thinking Strategically About Organizing and Communicating

p. 12

Can You Trust Anyone Under Thirty?

p. 14

Creating Socio-Economic Spaces

p. 18

Making Organizations Look Alike

p. 20

Strategies of Organizing

p. 23

Strategic Communication for Individual Members of Organizations

p. 24

Summary: The Complexities of Organizational Communication

p. 26

Keys to Strategic Organizational Communication

p. 30

Seeing Connections: The Importance of Systems Thinking

p. 32

There Go the Lights, Here Come the Babies?

p. 40

Uncovering Assumptions: The Importance of Critical Thinking

p. 43

Valuing Differences: The Advantages of Diversity

p. 47

Thinking Globally: The Challenges of Globalization

p. 49

Understanding Technology: A Radical Force for Change

p. 52

Working in the Virtual Future: An Optimistic View (Looking Back)

p. 58

Summary

p. 66

Strategies of Organizing

p. 71

Traditional Strategies of Organizing

p. 73

Traditional Strategies of Organizational Design

p. 75

Feel Safer Now?

p. 83

Traditional Strategies of Motivation, Control, and Surveillance

p. 89

The Power of Rewards at Industry International

p. 92

Traditional Strategies of Leadership

p. 98

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in Traditional Strategies of Organizing

p. 99

Scenes From the Electronic Sweatshop

p. 104

Conclusion: Communication and Traditional Strategies of Organizing

p. 107

Relational Strategies of Organizing

p. 113

Relational Strategies of Organizational Design

p. 114

Going South?

p. 118

Relational Strategies of Motivation, Control, and Surveillance

p. 127

Empowerment or Iron Cage?

p. 133

Relational Strategies of Leadership

p. 136

Information and Communication Technology and the Relational Strategy

p. 139

Assessing Relational Strategies

p. 142

Thinking Critically About Relational Strategies

p. 146

Cultural Strategies of Organizing

p. 155

Defining Key Terms: Cultures and Organizational Cultures

p. 157

Cultural Strategies of Organizational Design

p. 159

Cultural Strategies of Motivation, Control, and Surveillance

p. 161

Organizational Symbolism and Cultural Strategies of Motivation and Control

p. 166

It's My Party and I'll Do What I Want To

p. 171

Resistance and Control in Three Service Organizations

p. 175

Cultural Strategies of Leadership

p. 178

Technology and Cultural Strategies of Organizing

p. 181

Thinking Critically About Cultural Strategies

p. 183

Network Strategies of Organizing

p. 191

Network Strategies of Organizational Design

p. 193

Choosing Communication Media

p. 202

What Might Have Been

p. 208

al-Qaeda: A Network Organization?

p. 209

Evolving Into a Network Organization

p. 213

Network Strategies of Motivation, Control, and Surveillance

p. 215

Challenges for Control Systems in Network Organizations

p. 218

Leadership in Network Organizations

p. 219

Challenges and Problems for Network Organizations

p. 221

Beyond Networks: Alternative Strategies of Organizing

p. 222

Box 6.3 Postmodern Organizations?

p. 225

Conclusion

p. 227

Contingency Perspective on Organizing Strategies

p. 231

Task

p. 232

Steeling Away Into a Different Structure

p. 236

Interrelationships Among the Contingency Variables

p. 237

Conclusion and Transition

p. 238

Challenges in the Twenty-First Century

p. 241

Communication, Power, and Politics in Organizations

p. 243

A Perspective on Organizational Power

p. 245

On Death and Dying

p. 247

Societal Assumptions and the Bases of Organizational Power

p. 251

The Playground Never Ends

p. 263

Organizational Politics: Overt Power in the Communicative Process

p. 266

Box 7.1 An Exploration of Life in Systems of Power

p. 274

Conclusion

p. 278

Communication, Decision Making, and Conflict in Organizations

p. 284

Communication and Organizational Decision Making

p. 286

Making a Green Decision

p. 291

Managing the Ambiguity

p. 304

Koalas and Roos Flying Through Chaos

p. 313

Communication and the Management of Organizational Conflict

p. 316

The Bargaining Case

p. 327

Conclusion

p. 335

Organizational Change

p. 339

Innovation

p. 343

Organizing for Creativity

p. 344

Adoption

p. 348

Implementation

p. 355

Implementing a Moving Target: Quality Improvement at TopHill Hospital System